As a published crime writer I'm going to post what it's like to be a professional writer, the good and the bad days, writing and not writing.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Short Story Day Five

I finished it today. I guess that’s fast, I don’t know. It’s about 3500 words.

The strange thing about this story is that it came to me all of a piece. What I mean is, I knew the protagonist and I knew the end before I began. And then it pretty much wrote itself. I never know the end when I start something. The something is usually a novel. So what do I know about writing a short story and how it develops?

Still, it was odd for me. I’m not sure what to make of it. The process, that is.

I like the story. And I had to write it exactly as I did. It had to go the way it went as if it had a life of its own. I guess it did have a life of its own.

I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen in the middle and I had to go back and add specific material as I wrote. Yesterday, after a weekend of letting it sit, I made some changes and printed it out. Then I went out.

Today I made changes on the hard copy put those changes into the computer, printed it out and gave it to First Reader. FR liked it but had some nits to pick. That’s what FR’s are for, aren’t they? Hate it when it’s a big section FR doesn’t like. But this is a short story so my feeling is either you like it or you don’t and then you can pick.

Took some of FR’s suggestions and ignored others. Put changes back in the computer. Read it again on the screen. Made more changes. Read it again. Printed it out. Put it in a drawer.

1 comment:

I find the ones that come all of a piece are mood pieces and usually the stronger stories. The tone carries the day, dictates the direction. The ones that you fret over for months should probably be novels. But that's just me. Someone who's never managed to write a novel--only stories. Thanks for sharing it. The process was illuminating. Patti Abbott